Thoughts on Robin Garr's PF Chang's review

[Robin Garr]

No time to post the picture and intro, but here's the HotBytes link. I love local and authentic, okay? But the apps, at least, were pretty good at PF Chang's. Let the hating begin!

Don’t expect ‘authentic,’ but the apps satisfy at PF Chang’s

Of course the lettuce wraps taste great . . . look at their nutrition page: the lettuce wraps (lettuce, chicken, and veges with sauce) have 17 grams of carbs per serving. The only way to get that high (the same amount as two spring rolls!) is via sugar. There is ginger, garlic, other seasonings also, but the amount of sugar they add to almost all dishes is astounding! The egg drop soup has 6 grams of carbs; this is for a supposedly plain chicken broth with egg swirled in.

I don't know if the sugar addition was done from the beginning; I do know that after Paul Fleming sold the chain (he's the "PF" in PF Chang's) he was so disappointed in what was done to the restaurant that he kept menu and management control of Fleming's Steakhouse contractually even after he sold the business!

[Robin Garr]

look at their nutrition page

Gaaah! There are some things you just can't un-see.

I never have understood adding so much sugar in chain chinese food. There was a chinese chain where Red Lobster is now on Breckinridge Lane that someone raved about. I ate there, and couldn't enjoy anything. All I remember was everything being obnoxiously sweet with a weird aftertaste.

That said, PF Chang Mongolian Beef is a guilty pleasure.

I can live with that amount of sugar, really. A grown man can have about 35 grams a day. What I can't take at Chang's is the absurd amounts of sodium lurking in some of these dishes. Just look at the bowl of hot and sour soup. Most people consider a bowl to be a serving, but their bowl is broken in to 5 servings. 400 calories for the bowl, still ok for a meal. What, what's that? 5000 MILIGRAMS OF SODIUM IN ONE BOWL OF SOUP!!! Are you kidding me? That is 2.5 days minimum for most people, and over 3 for people shooting for the 1500 range like me. How about the Almond and Cashew chicken? It is a full entree with 1000 calories, but it packs 6000 MILIGRAMS OF SODIUM!! Less than the soup per calorie, but still completely absurd. I am sure I have unknowingly eaten worse, but the fact that they would even serve something at these levels is enough to keep me away on sheer principle. In addition to the fact that there are much better local establishments such as August Moon or Asiatique.

I got my numbers from here:

http://www.pfchangs.com/menu/nutritionalinfo.aspx

Also note they have a PDF, which is wildly different from the website (even though the PDF is on the website as well). It lists the soup at 380 calories and, wait for it, 7980 MILIGRAMS OF SODIUM. The chicken has less sodium in the PDF, but it states that rice is not included which I assume must be on the website?

I never have understood adding so much sugar in chain chinese food. There was a chinese chain where Red Lobster is now on Breckinridge Lane that someone raved about. I ate there, and couldn't enjoy anything. All I remember was everything being obnoxiously sweet with a weird aftertaste.

I believe that was China Coast. I only remember because the one time that i did eat there, the egg roll doused my shirt with oil on the initial bite.

I really tried to like the place.

Will, I can't fathom how anything could have that much sodium and not be inedibly salty!

Jeff, since I started purging sodium from my diet I have been really surprised at how salty some of the things I used to eat are. I found that people build up a sort of tolerance to it, and you become unaware of the fact that it exists in such large quantities in many packed, processed, and restaurant foods. It took a few months of eating a low sodium diet before I started noticing the difference. Now I go back and eat things I used to enjoy and think how salty they are. Of course, 5000 milligrams for a bowl of soup is way over the top even for those who are acclimated to it and I am not sure how that could taste good either. I have never had it, but if I do ever go I may ask for a small sample just so that I can taste it!

While I certainly don't think these ridiculous levels of sodium and sugar are good for anyone, nor required for a dish taste good. I think people need to put it in perspective. You will find that most Asian food is very high in sodium, just look at how much sodium is in soy sauce, for example. Many people may think that the local oriental restaurants are better in this regard, but are they really? Because of their size, they aren't required to publish nutritional data for their food. I think we would be surprised to see that the levels of sodium and sugar in many of their dishes is just as high as those that are being criticized at PF Chang's.

While I certainly don't think these ridiculous levels of sodium and sugar are good for anyone, nor required for a dish taste good. I think people need to put it in perspective. You will find that most Asian food is very high in sodium, just look at how much sodium is in soy sauce, for example. Many people may think that the local oriental restaurants are better in this regard, but are they really? Because of their size, they aren't required to publish nutritional data for their food. I think we would be surprised to see that the levels of sodium and sugar in many of their dishes is just as high as those that are being criticized at PF Chang's.

Depends on the restaurant.

Several years ago PFC's recipe for Mongolian Beef was published (don't know if correct or not). It contained 1/2 C of sugar. We have six different recipes we got from other restaurants and "authentic" cookbooks (recommended by Asian friends), and the sugar ranged from 1t to 2T.

In general, at a local place we tell them we are on limited salt, limited sugar, whatever diet, and the better ones have no problem in adjusting recipes to fit us. If we don't ask - or go on a very busy weekend when they are slammed - we can taste the difference!

We've tried at other PFC's to ask for low sodium, and they could/would not adjust; admittedly, this was many years ago in a different city, but haven't felt the need to try again.

I believe that was China Coast. I only remember because the one time that i did eat there, the egg roll doused my shirt with oil on the initial bite.

I really tried to like the place.

That was it. Thank you!

(disgusting food)

I believe that was China Coast. I only remember because the one time that i did eat there, the egg roll doused my shirt with oil on the initial bite. I really tried to like the place.

I tried China Coast on May 20, 1995. I did not have the buffet but ordered "fresh" food off the menu I suspected was microwaved food substitute that tried to make up for flavor with a shovel full off the Bonneville Salt Flats. No wonder China Coast lasted about 15 minutes in Louisville. Even in a quasi-Southern city that some think therefore embraces any cuisine that hastens death, there are limits. If they spent half the effort on the food they did on the decor, they'd have lasted a lot longer.

After I started eliminating processed food from my diet I noticed that much restaurant food tastes too salty or too sweet. Any frozen entree is just yucky now with way too much salt and preservatives. I think much mass produced food whether its for the restaurant market or home use has been adjusted to fit the tastes of the majority of the public. Really illustrates how far we've gotten away from cooking and how much we rely on microwaving instead. Since most of the big chains put a premium on consistency of product they rely on mass produced bags of sauces, entrees etc. (see the other thread on Tumbleweed). I suppose it's the price we pay for expediency.
I will say that the service we had the last time we dined at PF Chang's was very good.

After I started eliminating processed food from my diet I noticed that much restaurant food tastes too salty or too sweet.

I remember some time ago (several years) on Top Chef one contestant who owned a "natural foods" type of restaurant cooked something and added tons of seasoning - herbs, nuts, oils, spices (heat) - but only a pinch of salt in total. When served to the judges, their comments centered on how anyone who doesn't understand that food has to be salted doesn't deserve to win Top Chef! He stated that the herb crust was designed to impart additional flavor, but he was summarily dismissed, and was the one dropped from the show that week. Never forgot that!